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As an emerging youngster, McManaman was one of the stars of Wigan Athletic’s FA Cup win in 2013, He scored three goals in the early rounds and played the full 120 minutes of the victory over Manchester City.

The Latics were relegated to the Championship the following week and McManaman went with them, only leaving the club for West Brom in January 2015, at a cost of £4.75m.

But he only started seven Premier League games for the Baggies, and has fallen completely out of favour since.

He has not played for the club since April 2016, and has not featured in a single matchday squad this season, not even in the League Cup. He was out of contract in the summer, and Tony Pullis was anxious to move him on now and save on his wages as he would lose him for nothing in the summer.

McManaman spent the second half of last season on loan at Sheffield Wednesday, though ten of his 12 appearances for the Owls came from the bench.

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Grayson holds a lot of store in Championship experience, and Brendan Galloway and Robbin Ruiter are the only players he has recruited for the Black Cats not to have played second-tier English football.

He had also hoped to add a striker, but was unable to persuade Aston Villa to part with Ross McCormack, or Wednesday to lend him Jordan Rhodes. Having failed to sell a single outfield player, the funds to buy a quality proven striker were hard to come by for a club heavily in debt.

McManaman is expected to be one of three deadline-day deals for Sunderland, with moves for defender Marc Wilson and midfielder Jonny Williams also going to the wire.